Brushing and scrubbing machine.



A. DA PONTE.

BRUSHING AND SCRUBBING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED on. 6. 1915.

1,198,623. PatentedSept. 19,1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

.A. DA- PONTE.

BRUSHING AND SCRUBBING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 6i'1915.

Patented Sept. 19, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ANTOINE D A PONTE, 'OF ATHENS, .GREECE.

BRUSHING AND SCRUBBING. MACHINE.

Application filed October 6,

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ANTOINE DA Forum, a citizen of Greece, residing at Athens, Greece, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Brushing and Scrubbing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the class of brushing and scrubbing machines and is more specifically concerned with the provision of a machine adapted for employment upon floor surfaces for the purpose of maintaining such surfaces in their original state of cleanliness, or of preparing them for desired applications of wax, paint or varnish.-

As a principal object, it is contemplated to produce a floor scrubbing machine which may readily be fitted for the substantially equivalent uses of cleaning wood or mosaic floors, of whitening marble floors,of sweeping carpets or of scraping hard wood floors prior to the application of floor coatings thereto, .by employing with the machine removable brushes of the various required textures or setaceous qualities.

A further object of my invention is to provide novel and improved means for removably mounting the revoluble brushes on a machine-of the type above referred to, said means having associated therewith adjusting means, whereby said brushes may be retained in direct contact with the surface to be cleaned at all times. i

It is also designed to associate, in a floor scrubbing machine, hinged dust pans which may be arranged in pairs for each brush employed, such dust pans being removably maintained in effective position by proper catches.

The above and additional objects which will be hereinafter more specifically treated are accomplished by such means as are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, de' scribed in the following specification and then more particularly pointed out in the claims which are appended hereto and form a part of this application.

With reference to the drawings, wherein there is illustrated the preferred embodiment of this invention as it is reduced to practice, and throughout the several views of which like characters of reference designate similar partsgFigure 1 is a side elevational view of the machine; Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the same subject-matter; Figs. 3 and 4 are longitudinal sectional Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. is, rare. 1915. SerialNo. 54,381.

views taken through the machine upon the respective vertical planes indicatedby the lines 33 and 4:fl of Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view on the plane of the line 55 of Fig. 1.

' The floor scrubbing machine of this invention, when embodying the above stated principles, employs a substantially semicylindrical, protective casing 10 which is supported above the floor surface through the medium of wheels 11 which are mounted in pairs on the extremities of axles 12 at each end of the casing, such wheels being preferably provided with cushioned tires 13 to prevent defacement of floors or furniture. Similarly mounted at the extremities of an axle 14 which centrally transfixes the casing are the drive wheels 15 which in rotation due to movement of the machine along the fioor are designed to operate the brushes 16. These wheels are also provided with the cushion tires 13.

Thebrushes 16 are mounted on their respective shafts 17, the extremities of which extend through the side walls of the casing 10, being accommodated in slots 18 formed in the side walls to render the brushes respective side walls are arranged the trains of gearing which provide for operation of the brushes 16 in a direction opposite to that of the traction wheels of the machine.

Large gears 22 are carried at the extremities of the drive wheel axle 14 within the spaces inolosed by the partitions. Pinions 23 mesh with each gear 22 at diametrically opposed points and have also a driving engagement with respective pinions 24 which in turn mesh with the separate brush gears 25, substantially the arrangement illustrated 1n Figs. 1 and 3. The pinions 23 and 24: are separately journaled between the partitions and the casing side walls, while the brush gears 25 are fixed upon the extremities of each brush shaft. 17.

It now remains to describe the features of adjustability permitting a take up of the wear upon the brushes. Plates 26 are provided with hinges .27 which mount them for a swinging movement over the slots 18 of the casing side walls. Set screws 28 serve to maintain them in a vertical position cov ering these slots, and these plates are each formed with a series of adjusting apertures 29, the edges of the apertures intersecting after the manner shown in Fig. 1. It will be noted that each series of apertures 29 is arcuately arranged in its plate 26, and it may be pointed out that the curvature of the arcs of connected apertures is determined by the center of respective pinions 24, with which the respective arcs 29 are concentric. Each of the apertures of a series 29 may contain the extremity of a brush shaft 17 the ends of each shaft being correspondingly adjusted in its plates 26 to take up the wear upon the brush. Obviously, the arcuate arrangement of the aperture series and of the slots 18 and 20 which are alined therewith will permit this take up adjustment, without deranging the driving connections of the gearing.

Pans 30 are arranged in opposed pairs for each brush 16, such pans being hinged, respectively, at the opposite ends and at the center of the casing 10 in such manner as to receive the scrapings raised by the brushes which are exposed to contact with the floor surface therebetween. The dust pans have formed on their outer edges the resilient catch extremities 31 which extend laterally beyond the side walls of the casing and are each bent up into contact therewith to normally maintain, by their frictional grip, the dust pans in the positions illustrated. A handle 32 has one extremity bifurcated to form the yoke 33, the ends of which yoke are loosely seated upon the drive wheel axle 14.

The brushes may be composed of metallic bristles or be of such other setaceous character as required by the floor surface upon which they are designed to operate. As already pointed out the brushes may be readily removed from the scrubbing machine,

' which is accomplished by a withdrawal of the screws 28 and the swinging of the mounting plates 26 laterally outward upon their hinges which leaves the brush shafts loosely slidable in the alined slots 18 and 20 of the casing side walls and partitions.

While in the foregoing, however, there has thus been illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described in the specification such combination and arrangement of elements as constitute the preferred embodiment of this invention, it is desired to emphasize the fact that such minor changes in the matters of proportions and degree may be made in later adaptations of this device as shall not alter the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is 1. A brushing and scrubbing machine including a wheel supported casing having oppositely disposed alining slots in the side walls thereof, shafts arranged in the slots,

brushes carried by the shafts, and plates hinged to the outer surfaces of the walls of the casing adjacent the lower ends of the slots and each provided with a plurality of communicating openings for removably receiving the ends of the shafts for consequently controlling the adjustment of the brushes.

2. A brushing and scrubbing machine including a wheel supported casing, the side walls of the casing having a plurality of oppositely disposed and uniformly spaced slots provided therein, shafts arranged in the slots, brushes carried by the shafts and arranged within the casing, a plurality of plates each having a plurality of communicating openings therein, one of said plates being hinged to the outer surface" of the side walls of the casing adjacent the lower end of each slot, means for removably maintaining the free ends of the plates in engage- 'ment with'the side walls of the casing so as to consequently removably hold the respective ends of the shaft in the openings in the plates to vary the adjustment of the brushes, and dust pans movably connected to the bottom of the casing.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature ANTOINE DA PONTE.

, hereto. 

